Wordpress SEO Expert

Improve your Google ranking with Peter Mahoney, 20+ years SEO & Wordpress experience

Let’s make a video showing our search engine rankings before we start

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Could I suggest you take some good screen shots of ‘before’ with ranking and general state of my website.

I’d also recommend a video screen recording showing the rankings and where everything is currently.

Looking forward to working with you! Your feedback and reviews I’ve heard word of mouth are really outstanding. Let’s get this SEO going!

As we embark on the task of overhauling your site’s SEO, I would like to address a potential issue that could affect the accuracy of our data.

To ensure we are comparing “apples to apples,” we need to use Google Search Console. This is the official stats package for SEO, and it provides us with accurate and reliable data that we can use to measure the impact of our efforts. Unfortunately, if you have not previously set up Google Search Console, there will not be any existing data.

In most cases, I set up Google Search Console as part of my work, and after a month (assuming you take me up on my offer of a free month’s ongoing service), I use the first week as the “before” data and the most recent week as the “after” data. This allows us to compare the performance of your website before and after the implementation of our SEO strategy.

However, if you want more accurate “before” data, I can set up Google Search Console for you now and run it for a week (or maybe even nine days) to ensure we have a sufficient dataset before beginning the SEO work. This will provide us with a better pool of data to work with, resulting in a more accurate analysis of our results.

Of course, the downside of this option is that it will delay the SEO service. If time is a concern, we can proceed with the original plan and use the data available in Google Analytics. However, it’s important to note that the data from Google Analytics may not be as accurate as the data from Google Search Console, as it does not provide the same level of detail regarding the performance of your website in search results.

Ultimately, the decision is yours. If you want to proceed with the most accurate data possible, we can set up Google Search Console and wait for a week before beginning the SEO work. If time is a concern, we can use the data available in Google Analytics and proceed as planned.

Please let me know which option you prefer, and we can proceed accordingly. I look forward to working with you to improve the SEO of your website.

I’m glad to hear that you’re pleased with the options and excited to move forward with improving your website’s SEO. As we proceed with the project, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. I’m committed to providing you with excellent service and ensuring that we achieve the results you’re looking for.

To give you a better idea of what to expect, once we have the data in place, I will conduct a thorough analysis of your website and develop a comprehensive SEO strategy that addresses any issues we uncover. This may involve optimizing your content, updating your website’s structure and design, and building high-quality backlinks to your site.

Throughout the process, I will keep you informed of our progress and provide you with regular updates on the results we’re achieving. My goal is to work closely with you to ensure that we achieve your objectives and deliver measurable results that help your website rank higher in search results and attract more traffic.

Thank you again for choosing me as your SEO consultant. I’m confident that together, we can achieve great things and take your website to the next level.

 

Cheers,

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

How much would you charge to SEO lots of sites?

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Thank you for your detailed explanation about the danger of buying links, I really appreciate it. I thought to myself that buying links doesn’t sound like a great idea, but I’m no expert!

So, what would you suggest? Is there a package we can offer my client instead, where we focus on gaining them real, quality backlinks? They’re a big company, so budget is very flexible.

Also, I’ve got a client with 14 websites so far, we’ve worked with them for years and they’ve asked about SEO and the following:

  • Full SEO Audit and SEO Overhaul
  • Keyword Research
  • Google Search Console and SEO Tool Setup
  • Local SEO
  • 20 Keywords
  • Content Optimisation
  • Technical SEO (Robots, XML, Sitemap)
  • Monthly Report

I think they have just got that from an SEO package on Google, but roughly how much would you charge to do this for 14 sites? They’re a restaurant group, so adding new locations and websites every couple of months.

I definitely do the overhauls, local SEO, search console, keyword research, usually up to 12 keywords that I report on (but could do as many as 20*), technical SEO and monthly reports.

I make recommendations for content but don’t make those changes directly.

* = if when they say 20 keywords they mean “we want to be optimised for 20” then I recommend reading this article – because that’s not really how things work anymore:
https://peter.mahoneywebmarketing.com/how-many-keywords-do-you-include-in-seo-reports/

And in terms of pricing for multiple ongoing sites, how’s this sound (this is the absolutely the lowest I can go, it’s my top tier agency rate). Usually this rate is reserved for people who come to me through my website too, because PPH charges me 20% on all sales which makes it hard to offer this rate here.

But here it is:

SEO overhaul is always £100+VAT
Monthly SEO campaign is usually £100+VAT per site

So essentially, we have a series of units of work that cost £100+VAT each.

With this rate I’d charge the first ongoing unit per month at £100+VAT, then each subsequent one at 25% off: £75+VAT.

So if you have me do two initial overhauls and we’ve got three ongoing clients on the books in a given month, you’d pay:
100 x 2 (for the initial overhauls)
100 x 1 (for the first ongoing client)
75 x2 (for the other two ongoing clients)

= £450+VAT

basically, the first ongoing job in a month is full price, then the rest have the 25% discount.

I’ve probably over-explained that. Let me know what you think!

 

Cheers,

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

There are still plenty of SEO cowboys out there

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I’m regularly amazed at the poor quality of SEO work I come across daily.

And the attitude of the cowboys that do it is just shocking.

I recently had an exchange with a potential SEO client. At least they thought they were a potential client.

Before I begin I should point out about 70% of my work is for digital marketing agencies who on-sell my work to their clients. I’m more than happy to do that – but it’s incredible how many people try to take the piss.

Perhaps every other week I have an order come through for a marketing agency that sells SEO work – who want me to SEO their own site but not their clients’! They don’t have enough knowledge, experience or confidence to SEO their own site – but they’ll happily charge people to do shoddy work for them.

This recent exchange I had wasn’t even that honest about the intent though – it was from someone who said they were just an ordinary client, but betrayed themselves with a few key phrases I’ve become very au fait with:
I don’t have time for this one = “I charge people for SEO myself but for one reason or another can’t do this one. Probably because I don’t know how to deliver quality search engine optimisation.”
If I order now, can you do it this afternoon (asked at 3pm) = “Not only do I have no idea how long decent WordPress SEO takes, but I’m kinda of pushy and rude too.”

Towards the end of the exchange I had the question that guarantees I’m talking to a cowboy:
I need 500+ backlinks too.

Also, presumably, by 5pm that day. 🙂

It’s no secret I strongly dislike the industry that’s cropped up around the automatic creation of backlinks. I blog about it a lot – but the short version is Google says it’s against their rules and they actively try to find and penalise sites that do it.

I replied with a link to one of my posts on the subject, thinking there was still a chance I was talking with someone genuinely interested in proper white-hat SEO. Then I got this reply.

All SEOs use techniques that google ideally would not want you to use because they work, right? At the end of the day, google’s ranking process is just an algorithm. The recent planned Google updates for Links coming in march 2020 may help clean up link building but SEOs will still find holes in the algorithm.

The clients you work with surly (sic) care more about results than a multi-billionaire business algorithm and how well you follow these guidelines?

That’s just a small part of it. There were 20+ other questions demanding I prove all manner of things about SEO and the correct approach to it. In and of itself that’s not a problem (I like to respond to questions to help people wherever I can) but it was all just so aggressively defensive.

I replied as honestly and directly as I could.

I don’t think we’re going to be a good fit together.

The whole idea that
All SEOs use techniques that google ideally would not want you to use because they work, right?

isn’t in line with my or Google’s ethos. Or what’s considered best practice in the industry.

Grey and blackhat techniques might work for a while, but never in the long term. And my clients are interested in long term success, not quick wins that end up hurting them when Google adjusts their systems accordingly. When you do SEO properly you’ll find Google algorithm updates actually IMPROVE ranking.

To be really honest you seem to be defending what could best be described as a cowboy approach. And that sort of SEO tends to lead to algorithm changes harming ranking rather than helping.

So while I do genuinely wish you all the best for the future, I hope you’ll understand that I’m not interested in working with you. We clearly have very different ideas of what good SEO is.

It’s certainly not the most diplomatic response I’ve ever sent. But if someone is going to suggest my clients want short-lived gains that come at the cost of massive penalties later I feel like they’re being insulted. Good SEO (like good business) looks for long-term solutions.

The bit where I did try to be diplomatic was that last line.

We clearly have very different ideas of what good SEO is.

Because search engine optimisation is not about a personal belief or idea about what you want it to be. It is based on an algorithm – a predictable one. There’s evidence to show what works and what doesn’t. Why would you ever do anything except the very best approach?

Backlinks are great for SEO but only if they’re legitimate

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All off-site SEO basically comes down to is creating backlinks.

Directory listings, local citations, they’re all much the same when it comes to it.

Backlinks help if they’re legitimate – which means someone likes your site and has a proper reason to link to it. Any attempt to manipulate your own link profile goes against Google’s guidelines – and they’re adept at catching people and penalising them for it.

I’ve blogged about this a number of times – you can read some of those if you’d like more information.

My approach to SEO is entirely Google friendly; I very much believe the best approach is to match the search engines’ approach and fulfill their guidelines and recommendations.

This is sort of a catch-22, because while you shouldn’t fake links you do want them. My usual advice is to make use of your real life contacts to get some – ask suppliers or related sites to link to you, that sort of thing.

I should add too when people DO get links without properly asking people they really know for them – they tend to get extremely low quality ones. Too many low quality links hurts rather than helps. For example, every single person I’ve ever seen selling a BBC, Apple or Huffington Post link are actually just creating user profiles on those systems and sticking URLs in the bio section of those profiles.

That’s not really a proper link on the BBC! People think they’re going to get something in a news article, but more often than not they’re on pages Google doesn’t even index. The effect is people buy a back link on a ‘high quality domain’ but don’t get any SEO authority for it at all.

The people selling these links aren’t even doing it manually. There are automated tools they use to create hundreds of links in a few minutes. Google is smarter than this.

Because Google says explicitly that trying to manipulate your own link profile is against their terms there is no such thing as paying for Google safe links. It’s an oxymoron.

Buying backlinks 2016

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It’s been a while since I wrote a post about backlinks. But it’s always worth re-iterating this.

In short, my stance on these has only become stronger, because Google has become even more clever.

The shortest answer to the backlink question is that having backlinks is very beneficial.

But the longer answer is actually more important. Google has become incredibly adept at working out which backlinks are natural (i.e., someone liked your site and linked to it) as opposed to bought, meaning you paid for them.

Natural backlinks help your SEO, generally speaking. As for manipulated ones, once Google realises what you’ve done (which can take a few months) they will usually hurt your rank, often quite drastically.

There are a lot of people selling what they called “safe” links, or “Google friendly links”. In truth Google is very clear that any attempt to buy or create links is contrary to their ethos and something they will try to find and penalise you for.

And they are very good at it.

The reason people still sell them is a quirk of Google’s algorithm. When Google first see new links come in for a site they will almost always improve that sites ranking. It’s not until they’ve seen the patterns emerge and they realise they were faked links that they penalise you.

So when someone first buys links they usually do see an improvement, and feel happy with the service that made them. Months later when their site takes a hit—it’s too late.

So, are backlinks good? Absolutely. Should you try to have them created on your behalf? Absolutely not.

Prices are quoted exclusive of VAT unless expressly stated.

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